News

Actions

Deadline today to request a ballot for KC Streetcar expansion

Deadline today to request a ballot for KC Streetcar expansion
Posted at 7:53 AM, May 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-23 10:07:32-04

Tuesday is the last day to request a ballot for the streetcar expansion that would lay tracks from Union Station more than three miles to UMKC.

Those able to vote are about 30,000 people living around the expansion area, known as the Transportation Development District.

At last check only 3,200 people had requested ballots.

The expansion comes with a price tag in the area -- a one percent sales tax increase within the expansion area, plus property tax increases.

The city estimates it would cost $133 a year for a $100,000 home if you live in the area. For a $1,000,000 business, property tax would go up more than $1,500 a year.

The TDD tax would go up one percent in the area. To critics, that  stacked with sales tax and a CID tax could add up quick.

"If you go out to eat, it's going to reach in excess of 12 percent. If you just go to the grocery store, it'll be two percent less than that so it'll be over 10 percent," Sherry DeJanes, Smart KC.

If you want to vote, fill out the ballot application and take it to the Jackson County Circuit Court by 5 p.m. 

Ballots will be mailed on June 20.